New Drugs May Extend Our Lifespan to 150 Years

[Gahars]

This is a bit of an update on something I'm sure a few of you have heard of, but I still figured it was worth sharing.

Basically, scientists are testing a drug that would use a synthetic molecule called resveratrol, which works by stopping or slowing down the genes that cause aging. It has already been test sucessfully on worms, yeast, flies, and mice, and some of the people involved are predicting that the drug could potentially extend our lifespan to 150 years.

Source: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113671-New-Drugs-May-Extend-Our-Lifespan-to-150-Years

The potential implications of this treatment are mindboggling, and it opens the door to further enhancement. Sure, some serious testing will need to be done in order to ensure that this is safe for us, but if it works... well, what do you think? Would it be worth it?

Me? I'm all for living twice as long as the average rate. Besides, I want to see where we go from here; singularity anyone?

 

[plasma]

I wonder how many Pokemon there would be when im 150?!?!?! lol New drug = Tis cool XD

 

[Zetta_x]

I have a feeling that doubling the average life expectancy will be very detrimental for the human race in general (mainly because of population control). (Imagined if you just doubled the amount of people living on the planet (It would be more like 1.75); that would mean stuff like unemployment rate would increase.

Also, if this slows the aging process; can we expect puberty to be hit at later dates, will this affect fetuses and embryos; will pregnancy take 18 months on average until birth?

Lastly, Gene's age? It probably meant orgrans and tissues we don't replace daily already. But most failure isn't due to old age, it's due to attracting some kind of abnormality (which I presume would have the same chance regardless of how much longer you can live). The statistics on how many people who die of natural deaths would decrease significantly considering you have twice the chance to contact some type of cancer in a lifetime.

 

[DarkWay]

Living longer might be all well and good but you have to think about how your body will deteriorate over that time.

 

[DiscostewSM]

"I went to a rejuvenation clinic and got a whole natural overhaul. They took out some wrinkles, did hair repair, changed the blood, added a good 30 to 40 years to my life. They also replaced my spleen and colon. What do you think?"

 

[Jakob95]

But you can still die from cancer and heart attacks and stuff like that. So I don't really understand how everyone will be able to live up to 150 with this.

 

[spinal_cord]

It's band enough they keep putting back the age at which you can claim your state pension, now they're you'll have to work until you're 140 before you can claim.

 

[Gahars]

Well, the longer people live, how much we reproduce would have to decrease. This would shake up the norms of society, true, but that's happening now anyway (Issues with retirement age and social security when people live far longer than they used to). There will be growing pains, sure, but they can be overcome. As for employment, more long term services would be required in order to cater to everyone living so long, so that could possibly balance it out.

As for the effects, I wouldn't know how it affects fetal development in the womb. However, it wouldn't be that drastic; it would just probably mean that your healthy "prime" would last a whole lot longer than it does now.

Also, this is assuming that everyone will get access to the drugs, which definitely won't be the case. It will probably be very highly priced at first, and it might not make its way to poverty stricken nations for a good deal of time, unfortunately.

Ultimately, these are a beginning, a stepping stone on the way to bypassing death itself. It's nice to know that it is on track to happen in my lifetime.

EDIT:

Also, diseases or ailments would still be a factor (for now). The idea is that you could live to 150 with this treatment, not that it would be absolutely guaranteed (After all, you could live up to your 70's and beyond if you're lucky, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will happen. Life gets in the way sometimes.)

 

[Thesolcity]

It's band enough they keep putting back the age at which you can claim your state pension, now they're you'll have to work until you're 140 before you can claim.

Retirement in the U.S.: 65 lolno 149!!!

 

[nando]

that's awful. we don't need cher strutting her koosh for another century.

 

[spotanjo3]

No proof.

 

[notmeanymore]

I'll pass on that offer, thanks.

 

[Mantis41]

I laughed at the name of the drug and thought of 'reverse a trol' and assumed it was a hoax.

 

[alidsl]

Also only the rich will get access to drugs, there will probably be laws in place to stop you from taking the drug before puberty and the birth rate of the world is going down, so this will only affect a small minority of people

 

[ilman]

the more time a programmer lives=the more time he can make games
the more time I live=the more time I can play games

Spoiler

 

[OJClock]

I think this probably works by counteracting the molecules which decrease telomeres on the end of the chromosomes.
not enough is known about telomeres for this to be in any way safe for human trials, but this is an interesting prospect.
i'd like to see what happens when they test it on more closely related subjects.

As for people's concerns with when to give this drug, I'd think it would only be safe after a certain age when you have fully developed, because otherwise if the drug didn't get to all of your cells equally it could fuck you up developmentally. Also interested to see how this affects the brain/where it actually has an effect in the human body

 

[shakirmoledina]

eh can still get killed by car accident and besides chuck norris eats a pill after every meal

its quite interesting actually and its really possible. but side-effects in "super" things are always there (look at driver SF)

 

[431unknown]

Why would any one want to live that long? Personally I hope I kick off by 85 or so.

 

[Depravo]

With the world becoming more and more overpopulated it seems like an incredibly irresponsible thing to create.

 

[Nimbus]

The word of the day is "May"

Doesn't mean it will, and if we do this..aren't we technically playing god.

Personally something about that doesn't seem right, but that's just my thought on the matter, no need to agree with it.